Everything I Know About Blogging, Condensed into One Post

Exactly five years ago today, I published my first blog article. Actually, I published my first five articles.

They were terrible.

Deplorable. Appalling. Ghastly. An affront to the English language.

I’ve edited those articles multiple times over the past five years. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they’re “good,” but at least they’re no longer an insult to human dignity.
(Okay, I guess I’m being a tad melodramatic.)

Afford Anything is rounding into its birthday with more than 23,000 email subscribers, and this community is growing at a clip of several thousand new members every month.

Last year (2015) we had 667,000 unique visitors and 1.89 million pageviews.

It’s a far cry from five years ago, when nobody read this site. Not even my mom.

I started the Afford Anything Facebook page in March 2011, and I didn’t get my first comment — not one freakin’ Facebook comment! — until September 2011.

Robert Shiller’s research around inflation-adjusted home values since 1890

An explanation of PITI

…. and more.

This article took more than 30+ hours to research and write, but it generated 10x attention and traffic. Lifehacker called it “mandatory reading,” and — well, here’s the traffic chart. See for yourself:

I can’t put that level of depth and research into every post, but there’s nothing on this website (in recent history) that’s taken less than 10 hours to write, edit and layout. Many posts fall into the 10-20 hour range.

These are actionable, not theoretical. Blogs are an act of service to the audience, and the most popular bloggers recognize this.

Scannable and Easy-to-Read

Notice the tactics I use to make these articles easy-to-read:

Short paragraphs (often as short as one sentence), with plenty of negative space (white space)

Bulletpoints

Subheadings to break up the text

I also keep sentences simple: subject-verb-object. For example:

“I organize my business into three buckets.”

The sentence construction is simple: [Who] does [what]

Here’s a great sentence from live coverage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch. The dude on the video, Tim Urban, was trying to explain SpaceX’s business model, and he states: “They bring things to space for people.”

I told an anecdote about a sentence I enjoyed. (Yes, I enjoy sentences.) Why? Telling a story is more interesting than: “keep your sentences simple.”

Notice what else I did? I not only provided a link to the video, I cued it to the best starting point — 18 minutes and 30 seconds in. That’s called delivering value to your audience, online-business-jargon for “don’t be a jerk.”

Jokes, Anecdotes and Dialogue

Today’s final writing tip: I’ll offset the text with blockquotes.

“What’s a blockquote?”

It’s that. That’s an example of a blockquote.

The benefit is that it creates both contrast and white space (negative space). This makes the text easier to read/scan.

Nobody likes chunky blocks of text. That’s not just my opinion. Eye-tracking studies show that articles with more negative space are more engaging.

(See what I did there? Provide research, not just opinion.)

“In these blockquotes, you ask yourself questions?”

Yes, I have imaginary conversations with myself. I’m doing it now.

“Why?”

People get engrossed in dialogue.

“People like to talk?”

Yes, exactly. Dialogue mimics normal behavior.

“Do you recognize the irony in trying to “mimic normal behavior?” Hashtag loser!”

I get it. Hey, do you see what I did there?

“No. What?”

I told a self-deprecating joke to add levity to this conversation.

“Levity? Are you serious? Nobody uses the word ‘levity’ in conversation.”

Touchè. I should edit that out.

“Nobody says “touchè,” either!”

Dammit. I suck at being human.

Blog Production Value

Back to my original statement:

My philosophy is that articles should be:

Researched

Actionable

Scannable and easy-to-read

Contain jokes, anecdotes, and occasional dialogue.

Well-produced

We’ve covered the first four bullets. Let’s tackle the final piece: giving an article production value. This comes from qualities like:

Images

Charts

Graphs

This is my weak point. I’m a writer, not a visual artist.

So I enlisted the help of the talented Stephanie Halligan, who draws motivational cartoons at Art to Self. (By the way, I recommend subscribing to that site. It’s a daily dose of awesome.)

Stephanie helped me create visuals around many of the concepts I write about. For example, she created these images to illustrate different retirement lifestyles:

In this chart, Stephanie shows the traditional retirement model.

In this chart, she depicted the early retirement model.

Okay — see what Stephanie created?

I can write about these concepts, but Stephanie turns my concepts into visuals, which creates a better experience for you. (I hope. Right?)

Visuals are my weak spot, and that’s fine. I can’t be great at everything. That’s why I’m focused on building a team, not trying to be Superman.

I track everything. I test assumptions and make data-driven decisions.

I analyze many metrics, but the three I’ll touch on below include:

How deep into an article people read

The number of shares across social media

The number of subscribers who open an email

Let’s start with the first:

Using a tool called Content Analytics made by a company called SumoMe, I can track how deep into articles people read. (To be clear, I can’t see the behavior of any individual user. I can only read anonymized, aggregate data).

This data tells me when I might be writing about the wrong stuff.

See, here’s the thing:

I’ve noticed that the old-school theory — “articles should be short, because people have short attention spans” — is wrong. People will read to the end of a long article IF the content is compelling.

In other words, “it’s too long” is a polite way of saying “it’s too boring.”

Personalizing the Blog Reading Experience

The final piece of blog management is creating a more personalized experience.

On the 1-on-1 front, this happens through direct interaction with you. This takes the shape of:

Replying to blog and social media comments

Responding to audience questions during the podcast

Hosting free face-to-face meetups

Trying to reply to emails (they come in faster than I can keep up with!)

The mass communication front, however, is where more fascinating business strategy comes into play.

Here’s the deal:

I talk about a LOT of topics. Many of my readers have targeted interests:

Some are only interested in Airbnb.

Some only care about rental properties.

You — presumably, since you’re this deep into the article! — are interested in online business, entrepreneurship, and blogging.

My goal is to:

Communicate with readers based on their interests …

… without annoying people who aren’t interested in a given topic.

For example:

If you’re interested in rental properties, I’d like to send you more information about how to be a successful investor. If you’re not, I don’t want to clutter your Inbox with irrelevant material.

The question: How can I do this?

In a simplified manner, this is a two-step process:

Step 1: “Segment” the email list based on topic interest

Step 2: Send autoresponder emails to each specific segment

Let’s talk about this.

You might have noticed that there are roughly 824,502 ways that you can sign-up for the email list. (That’s a mild exaggeration.)

You can sign up through:

The annoying mid-screen pop-up. (Sorry!)

The box that emerges from the bottom righthand corner.

The full-screen signup with a motion video behind it.

The sign-up box on the homepage.

The sign-up box in the sidebar.

PDF downloads of individual blog posts.

Let’s talk about that last option: PDF downloads of blog posts.

This has been a HUGE accelerator of email list growth in the few short months I’ve been offering this.

Blogging experts say that you should offer “content specific opt-ins,” like a special checklist or spreadsheet that’s offered as bonus material for each individual article.

This post, for example, could (theoretically) offer a downloadable “get started blogging” bonus giveaway. But it doesn’t.

I’ve been wanting to create these content upgrades for months. But I told myself that I didn’t have the time.

I’m not going to throw some junk together. If I’m offering a free bonus, I want it to be good.

Even if I ask my assistant, Erin, to create a checklist or a spreadsheet, I need to project manage: explain the vision, give her direction, review, revise, edit and approve the material. This requires both time and mental energy.

As you know, I’m hyper-judicious about my time and energy.

Then I realized “done” is better than “perfect.” I began PDF-ing my articles and offering these as a free giveaway.

(I’m declaring “PDF-ing” as a word.)

Anyway, PDF-ing appears to be a win-win: Subscribers get a free gift, and I’m not tasked with creating new material.

(If you’re already on the email list, you can download any of the PDF’s without getting subscribed twice, assuming you enter the same email address.)

Okay, why am I talking about this? Here’s where segmentation comes into play:

If a person downloads a PDF related to real estate investing, that’s an indication they’re interested in real estate investing.

Genius, I know.

** Takes a bow. **

#Self-Deprecating #Levity

Readers who download real-estate-related PDFs are subscribed to the main email list, but get tagged as “real estate.”

Readers who download Airbnb-related PDFs are subscribed to the main email list, but get tagged as “Airbnb.”

At this point, “real estate” and “Airbnb” are the only two tags I maintain, although in the future I’d like to create additional tags like “online business,” “money basics,” etc.

Admittedly, this system is flawed for multiple reasons:

I didn’t do this from the start, so I have little-to-no information on what my longtime subscribers are interested in.

Some people are PDF hoarders who download everything. (Hey, no judgment!)

Probably many more reasons I’m blanking on right now.

I’m not doing this yet, but my 2016 goal is to create a sequence of emails that are delivered to new subscribers based on these tags. This is called an “autoresponder sequence,” and it allows people who are new to the website to get the most relevant, helpful content around their interests.

Let’s say you find this website after running a Google search for “how to become an Airbnb host.” You download the free Airbnb guide, and after reading it, you want to continue learning more.

I want to make sure you get exactly what you’re looking for, as soon as possible.

This is as simple as setting up an If-Then sequence:

If: tagged as “Airbnb”

Then: send article(s) starting #X days after you subscribe

I tested this idea last month. I sent the Airbnb-tagged list (around 500 people) an email that I wrote specifically for them, in which I talked about how to reduce whiny guest reviews.

Around 45 percent of subscribers with that tag opened the email, which is about 7 percent better than my main list’s open rate.

I know the difference between 38 percent vs. 45 percent open rates might not sound like a lot, but in the online business world, that’s significant.

Sure, it’s only one data point. But it indicates that topic-specific emails are more engaging and can better serve my audience.

I send specific emails to these groups that main-list subscribers don’t receive. For example, I surveyed the VIP List to see what material they want me to cover during the course.

These emails get opened at roughly an average 70 percent rate. (That’s double the open rate of the main email list.)

(Advanced) key takeaway: asking existing subscribers to opt-into a specialized list is the single best way to create effective segmentation.

That’s why I keep putting these sign-up links in every email.

(Ahem … you can sign up at those links above. Ahem.)

Oh, and also —

Since you’ve read this far, I assume you’re interested in online business. Sign up here to get updates about running an online business. You’re the ONLY people who will get these emails.

(See what I did there? Eh? Ehhh?)

** Takes another bow. **

#TheLevityIsKillingMe

“Too soon, Paula. You just told the ‘levity’ joke a few paragraphs ago. It’s too early to re-introduce it again.”

Hey, dialogue blockquote! You’re back!

“Yep. It’s a good idea to circle back to ideas you introduced earlier in the article. It gives the piece an overall sense of cohesion.”

But won’t that get repetitive?

“You don’t need to elaborate. Just touch on the concept, so it’ll move from people’s short-term to long-term memory.”

Got it. Thanks, blockquote!

“Hey, while I’m here, I have a message.”

Yeah?

“You’re 3,000 words deep into this article, and you’ve ONLY COVERED MANAGEMENT! You have two more “M’s” to go! Get on with it!”

Duly noted!

(Note to any terrified readers: Don’t worry. The next two M’s — marketing and monetizing — will be much shorter.)

(And there will be cake at the end!)

Blog Marketing 101

As you’ll recall:

Marketing is bringing readers to Afford Anything

Management is giving them a great experience while they’re here

How do I bring new members into this community? Broadly:

Guest posts

Media interviews

Being active on social media

Notice that search-engine optimization (SEO) is not on the list. That’s not an oversight. That’s by design. (Details below.)

I’ll highlight each tactic:

Guest Posts

Okay. You know when Rihanna and Eminem create a track together? And Eminem’s fans get exposure to Rihanna and vice versa? And some of these listeners stick around as longtime fans?

That’s the idea behind guest posting. Enough said.

Media Interviews

Media interviews don’t consume much time (relative to writing guest posts). But the value is a crapshoot: depending on the publication, this can either be an amazing traffic source or a mind-blowing dud.

The best predictor of results isn’t the size of the website’s readership, it’s the volume of content they produce.

If you’re featured in one of 30 new articles published that day, there’s a good chance your name will get lost in the mix. But if they’re not a content farm, you have a better shot at standing out.

In the beginning, I would solicit interviews with websites, newspapers and magazines through free websites like HARO (Help a Reporter Out), a matchmaking service between journalists and sources. These days, I just maintain a media page and wait for publications to come to me.

Social Media

Don’t be on every social platform. Choose a few, and manage them well. I’ve chosen Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. (That’s arguably too many.)

Why those?

A website called Shareaholic studied more than 200 million unique visitors who went to 150,000 websites over a three-year timespan. They found that:

Facebook drove around 25% of that traffic

Pinterest drove around 5%

The next-six-biggest social platforms (Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, G+, StumbleUpon, YouTube) drove less than 2% of traffic

A three-year-timespan is a generation in Internet Years, but those trends are worth noting.

I’ve experimented with running ads on Facebook. Nothing major yet; I’m testing and data-gathering. It’s too early to report results, but if you’d like to learn more about Facebook ads, Amy Porterfield’s podcast episode 92 is a great start.

Pinterest: I have zero interest in Pinterest. And it shows. My once-ugly Pinterest page, which delivers almost no traffic, is proof.

A few years ago, I blamed my lack of traffic on external factors. “Oh, finance just doesn’t perform well on Pinterest.”

Then I noticed other finance blogs getting insane traffic from Pinterest, and a cold truth sank in: I need to direct responsibility inward. The problem isn’t the platform. The problem is me.

So I sought help.

Do you remember the article I wrote about Erin, an Afford Anything reader who saved a year’s salary, quit her soul-crushing 9-to-5, and started freelancing full-time? She’s moonlighted as my very-part-time assistant for about a year. Two months ago I hired her as Afford Anything’s Chief Sanity Officer. One of her many responsibilities is taking control of my now-improving Pinterest account.

Erin is responsible for a trillion other details; my head will explode trying to name them all. I already wonder how I survived without her.

SEO is Overrated

Finally, the piece that’s not on the list: search engine optimization, or SEO. That’s industry-speak for “getting to the top search results in Google.”

Here’s the deal: One aspect of the old theory around SEO (carried to its logical extreme) was to stuff your content so full of keywords that it looked unreadable to humans.

So the Internet wound up full of garbage like this (highlights mine):

Obviously I’m not going to write articles like this. Would I write articles like this? I won’t write articles like this. Who writes articles like this? Now when someone asks, “would you write articles like this?,” I can say, “I don’t write articles like this.” Put another way, I wouldn’t write articles like this!

(Hey, in other news, this website is now ranking well for the keyword phrase “write articles like this!”)

Kidding. #NerdHumor

A better approach is to base articles around search data. Let’s say I run a Google search for “real estate” and then look at auto-fills:

I believe blogs should be inspired. Thoughtful. Brimming with insight and ideas you can’t find elsewhere.

When I create an article, I mull over the topic for days or weeks. I read, I talk, I listen, I reflect. When I eventually begin writing, my brain shuts down and my fingers take over. The world falls silent. Words pour from my fingertips as I stare at the screen, wondering what my hands are about to say.

(That’s on a good day. On bad days, I stare at a blank screen for hours.)

So … no. I’m not going to create SEO-fueled content around “How to Get a Real Estate License in 7 Steps.” If that means that Google doesn’t like me, that’s fine.

I should add that there are non-content steps that people can take to improve their search ranking, like fast website load times, fixing broken links and avoiding 404 Error pages. I’m 100% in favor of this, because it enhances the reader experience. I’m not serving you well if I have a website load time that’s slow-as-snails.

Disclaimer: There’s a LOT more to say about SEO that I’m leaving out for the sake of time and brevity.

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I’m oversimplifying SEO and we should have a more detailed discussion, but that’s outside the scope of this article. If you’d like to learn more, this guide by Rand Fishkin is a fantastic starting point. Also, join the online business list to receive special updates about this.

I should further add that topics like “How to Get a Real Estate License in 7 Steps” can be helpful and engaging, if it’s inspired. That type of article isn’t right for Afford Anything, but it holds a valuable place on the Internet.

(By the way, what time is the Super Bowl?)

Do you see what I’m doing with these graphs?

I’m giving you a roadmap so you can chart your progress through this post. I learned this from Pat Flynn’s SPI Episode 17 on YouTube; I’ve cued the video to the proper starting point if you’d like a lesson.

Monetization

You’ve reached the final “M.”

At this point, you’ve peeked at behind-the-scenes blog management. I hope I haven’t scared you. Five years ago, I didn’t study heat maps or run analytics or observe open rates. I just wrote.

That’s all you need to do to begin. Start a blog. Write. The rest comes later.

Okay. How do you make money as a blogger? In a nutshell, the most popular methods are:

Advertising

Affiliate revenue

Selling products or courses

Consulting

Let’s chat briefly about the last option on that list, then dive into the other three.

Consulting

Last year, Afford Anything earned revenues in the low-six-figures. (That doesn’t include real estate income, which is a separate entity.) The majority comes from consulting for other businesses.

You see, most businesses need a blog and social media presence. But there are no credentialed experts. Nobody has a Ph.D. in blogging.

I set up a consulting company called Catalyst a few years ago; Afford Anything is the lead generator. Most clients find Afford Anything and follow the link trail to Catalyst.

I know, because I track.

This is a weird business model. Statistically speaking, my clients represent 0.00001 percent of my audience. (That’s not an exaggeration. Multiply 667,000 unique readers per year x 0.00001. That’s six. Well, it’s 6.67. That’s roughly the number of new clients we’ll onboard each year)

Why choose such a weird business model?

The benefit is that I don’t make editorial decisions based on making money, which is why you’ll never read “10 Best Credit Cards of 2016!” at Afford Anything. (I could make a killing in affiliate commissions if I published an article like that, but I’d be prioritizing revenue over serving my audience, and I’m not willing to do that.)

The drawback is that every hour that I spend with clients is an hour I’m not engaging with this community. It’s an hour not answering reader emails, drafting blog posts or whacking trolls in the comments.

That sucks.

I pondered how to handle this and I decided to follow classic advice: Eliminate. Automate. Delegate.

I took that in reverse order. First, I delegated.

I hired a writer named Kristi. (She only writes for Catalyst clients. I write everything at Afford Anything.)

I hired a project manager named Kayla.

[In the works] — I sent an offer to an editor who may come on-board, as well.

Once I hired this team, I was like, “Oh crap, now we need processes!”

That’s when Catalyst began to automate — or more accurately, to systematize. We created boundaries like:

This is our standard menu of options

These are the ONLY platforms we work with

This minimizes our need to create a custom workflow for every client.

After I delegated and systematized, the final step was eliminate.

I chatted with a successful entrepreneur a few months ago and told him I’d like to drop a few clients. He offered fantastic advice: Don’t drop your clients. Raise your rates.

Brilliant.

Last Thanksgiving, I told several clients my rates would rise effective 2016. (Likewise, my assistant told me that her rate would rise, as well.) Many clients decided to find a cheaper alternative, which is fine; I’d planned to drop them anyway.

Here’s the funny part: When I started Catalyst, I was terrified a client would drop me. Now I’m dropping them. I’m choosing projects and clients I enjoy. As an entrepreneur, that’s a fantastic feeling.

Catalyst now consumes about one workday per week, leaving the other days open for me to focus on Afford Anything. It’s a six-figure, one-day-per-week commitment. This blows my mind and feels slightly surreal. It’s the near-literal embodiment of the four-hour-workweek.

(UPDATE September 2017: I’ve now killed off 100% of my Catalyst business so that I can focus entirely on Afford Anything. That’s right, I had a six-figure location independent business and I killed it on purpose. A younger version of myself would have found this unthinkable. But I just don’t want to do it anymore, and I don’t have to. I’d rather focus on the blog and the podcast. So here we are. :-))

Affiliates, Advertising, and Courses

This website doesn’t earn much direct revenue. Given the time I spend here, plus the high cost of running this site, I’d like Afford Anything to generate direct (non-consulting) revenue.

But how?

One possibility is affiliate revenue. If I recommend a product or service and people click through the link to use it, I’ll get a commission. Right now, I earn pocket change from this. That’s by design. I don’t want to push a bunch of posts that scream, “sign up for this savings account!”

Here are my two ethical stances around this:

I only affiliate to products/services I use myself.

If I like a product/service, I’ll share it whether or not it has an affiliate program.

I like Vanguard; they don’t pay affiliate commissions; I talk about them anyway. I also like Personal Capital, and I think Bluehost is great for new bloggers. Why wouldn’t I tell you about them? And why wouldn’t I include an affiliate link when I do?

I feel good about that. But I DON’T want to start adding “sign up for Personal Capital!” at the bottom of every article. I think it creates a crappy audience experience. And that means my ability to earn affiliate revenue is limited.

Affiliate revenue brings in not-even-enough-to-cover-costs, and I’m not willing to compromise content to increase that. So … I’m going to need a different direction.

Next up: advertising.

I don’t want to do it.

I think banner ads are ugly. They distract from the audience experience. And they’re not even that lucrative.

At my peak, I earned around $700 per month from Google Adsense, but I hated the look of the website. So I asked myself: “Would I pay $700 per month for a better-looking website?” My answer was yes, so I removed most ads. (There’s a small one buried deep in the footer. It brings in around $200 per month.)

In effect, I pay $500 a month to not annoy you.

That leaves one final monetizing strategy: selling courses. I love this option because I know I can offer huge value. I’ll pour months into creating massively helpful material.

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on my first few years as a rental property investor. There was so much I didn’t know. So many differing voices and opinions. So much hype. It felt impossible to wade through it all.

I’m creating the course that I would’ve wanted, back when I was a rookie investor.

(That’s a saying, right? “Do unto others as you would have done unto your former self in an alternate universe?”)

My first course, which will be released some time before the next Ice Age — um, I mean, 2016 — is comprehensive preparation for your first rental property. Building this course is my singular focus in 2016.

Sign up here to learn more about the upcoming real estate investing course, slated for Fall 2016.

We Made It!

We’ve reached the end of the longest article I’ve written. I have no idea how to end this piece.

“You’re not supposed to admit that, Paula.”

Blockquote! You’re back for an encore!

“Yeah. You’re lagging, so I thought I’d liven things up. Plus, repetition is a good teacher.”

Comments

THANK YOU for writing this hugely helpful (and just plain huge) post. I especially appreciate your advice to ignore SEO, and the discussion on monetizing. We’ve also decided not to put any ads on our site, and don’t even use affiliate links, and have struggled with other possible ways to monetize, especially since we have other more-than-full-time jobs for the next 22 months until we retire. (After that, we’ll have a lot more free time to spend on figuring this stuff out!) But we spend tons of time on our blog, and would love to even have some help offsetting our hard costs, even if we wouldn’t make enough to count as actual income. But, like you, we’re not willing to compromise our content. Oh well, still lots to figure out! Thanks again.

Ha this is great, I always like the frameworks others use and the Manage / Market / Monetize is a nice way to think about it.

I think blogging strategy changes over time. The old way of SEO and pumping out content worked 5-10 years ago but it’s not an effective strategy anymore, longer form is winning nowadays because social is a big driver of traffic (vs. SE).

One question, what tools you use in the tracking of content? (read %, heat maps, etc.) — it looks like AppSumo?

Very helpful information, as usual, Paula. I really appreciate the detailed breakdown, as well as your commitment to quality content. Sometimes I think I’ll die of boredom if I see another rehash of the same “how to save money on a budget” or “5 generic side hustle ideas” posts again. Quality, helpful, original content is invaluable!

Paula! I’m so excited you wrote this, it couldn’t be at a better time! I haven’t actually read it yet, I got too excited when I received the email and had to comment first before I started reading. I’ve been googling nonstop the last two weeks and reading every article I found on blogging and starting a blog, while questioning if it was coming from a person I should listen to or not. I have also been debating writing to you and Jay to suggest making a podcast about how you both started your blogs and what tools you use.

I’m in between jobs, currently working 10hrs per week just to pay bills and I’ve wanted to start a blog for probably about 8 years now, but never actually started it. I decided recently that I’m actually going to start this while I have lots of time to research how to get started!

Yes, this is a HUGE post; Waaaay too long. I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled just to see how much further to the end. Doesn’t the length of this post violate one or more of your blogging philosophies?

Fantastic post! Breaking it down into 3 chunks really helped. I’ve been working on segmenting our email list as well, but something you said made me second guess it. You mentioned the AirBnb post you sent to a segmented list. I’m not on your AirBnb list (and we don’t even have a place to offer), but I’m very interested in the topic.

I wonder if the number of readers that miss out on content they might enjoy outweigh the potential subscriber loss? Maybe it could be solved with a list of other articles in the footer that dedicated readers could find? Just thinking out loud…

I agree; that’s a huge flaw with my current system. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tackle that issue, as well.

The best idea I’ve heard so far is the easiest: Ask. I could email my existing subscribers and ask: “Hey, are you interested in any of the following? Airbnb / real estate / adorable cat photos.” >>>> with links they can click on (to get tagged) if they’d like more information about those topics.

Hi Paula,
Longtime lurker, first-time commenter!
My site/blog is pretty young and this is SUPER helpful. I know that there isn’t one gospel to follow when it comes to blogging (particularly the bit about word count– I’m known for my long rants) and that it takes a long time for a community to really form and all.

Seriously, this is one of the most helpful guides I’ve seen on blogging to date. I took a class at General Assembly taught by Molly Ford-Beck of Smart Pretty & Awkward and it was a great foundation– she suggested not really amping up your efforts to get readers until you have at least 3 months of content because people like having a backlog– my blog is a crazy amalgamation of helpful business content, stuff about the gaming industry, random rants, and amphibians.

Everything else I’ve found about blogging either makes it sound too easy, too hard, and the basic guides are A-C and the super successful people are already at Z and going on about it, and I’m just “Please show me D through something!” Thanks so much for this.

Great article Paula. I love how you make the decisions in the best interest of the readers rather than to maximize revenue. In a way it sounds like self sabotage. Don’t you think? I wonder how you are able to pull it off. May be it pays looong term. Keep up the good work.

Hi Chris,
Pretty new blogger here too. From my understanding, doing guest posts depends on your network and community. Speaking from my experience, I’m pretty active in the Gamasutra community and have a presence in the indie game developer scene where I live. Indie devs and entrepreneurial sorts are my main demographics. I spoke with a mobile user acquisition firm’s VP at an event, and he hooked me up with their content manager to do some guest posts on their blog this spring. So, get out and network. 🙂

Online, I met a gaming attorney through Gamasutra by commenting on his posts and he invited me to appear on his podcast, then because we had the relationship built up by the time my blog launched I was happy to have him do a guest post when he asked.

Thanks for your thoughts Rachel. Definitely makes sense that a lot is just networking and being involved. I’ve been keeping active on my favorite blogs, Twitter, and some forums.

The irony is that I’ve only got so much time since all of this is outside my day job so it can be hard to balance between the “manage” and “market” areas.

A lot of what I’m learning in blogging and building a community is how patient you have to be (admittedly not always my strongest trait). I’d love to have opportunities to guest post right now but do recognize that I’m new and have lots of room for improvement in my writing 🙂

Fantastic post!!! You weren’t kidding when you said this was everything you know – this is pretty much a book.

One of the most straight-forward tips I picked up from you was blockquotes. I like to have conversations with myself too, but I never thought of using blockquotes to help make it easier to scan. I have a post coming out in the morning and I think I’ll modify it to give this a try.

My revenue model is very similar. I make a lot from consulting and providing content to brands, but my site itself makes almost nothing. I’m also not willing to compromise my content to write reviews, comparisons, etc. But I do think logical affiliate integration is certainly an area I could improve upon.

One thing I really need to amp up are my list building efforts. I’ll need to re-watch your FinCon talk. I’d also love to hear more about this PDF strategy and how you set that up.

Thanks Paula. I had to take some time to think about this before commenting. I will have to do some soul searching later. I’ve been blogging on the frequent is better theme and you really struck with the part about 1 post with 30 hours work is better than 30 with 1 hour’s effort.

I read everything here except for the monetization section which I only skimmed. I gave up on blogging for income months ago and now it is a crime of passion. I want to serve readers better but need to serve myself too. The frequent posts keep me on target and accountable. I feel like I am letting trusted readers down if I take long breaks from managing my portfolio. Also, I check in with my weight each Monday and it has kept me more motivated for weight loss than any other trick. The frequent posts are how I manage *myself* now…

Anyway, I have a couple ideas that need longer than normal treatment and I think, thanks to you, I might go all-in and do an in depth analysis even if it takes several weeks to pound it out.

Terrific post Paula! This is one topic I was hoping you would write more about. This will actually help me frame some of the questions I hope to ask you in a consultation call later this spring! As far as you “exclusively blogging about real estate” – I am really glad that you write on a number of different topics! I have some knowledge about each area you write about, but I find all of the areas incredibly interesting.

Since I am playing around with the idea of starting a blog, I REALLY appreciate this post. You brought up many things I had not yet considered. (In addition to making me feel better about awful first posts.) Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom!

I’m not into real estate, so I enjoy hearing your thoughts and research on other topics. Please don’t stop.

I signed up for your online business list, but it looks like it took me to an airbnb list which is not what I intended. I’m not sure whether that’s what you intended.

Anyway, I saw that you signed up on the form for online business, so you should be good! If you got any errant emails or otherwise thought you were being erroneously directed into an Airbnb list, please just forward it to me. You can email me at will @ affordanything.com

I also wanted to mention that you do not have any control over affiliates. To make affiliate commission a significant part of your model would be a risky idea. Not sure if you’ve read “The Millionaire Fastlane”, but he has a whole section on why going the affiliate route is not Fastlane… Due to loss of control.

Consulting also would not be considered Fastlane either because you are directly trading time for money.

This is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing all these nuggets of hard earned wisdom with this community. Truly amazing and top notch info.
Love, love, love your style of writing, when I read I feel like I am sitting down chatting with a friend over a cup of coffee. Keep it up! When I grow up I want to be like you! (Forget for a sec that I am 10 years older than you!) 😉

Perfect timing for this post. I literally got my own blog up and running yesterday. For now, I’m using it as a system to force myself to wrestle with the ideas running around my head, as I find getting the words out in ink (pen or digital) really helps to clarify my thoughts. Right now, I’m content being closer to the 30 1-2 hour posts end of the spectrum to ingrain the habit of writing consistently and clear all these thoughts out of my head (I swear, I’m not crazy!) and into print for my own selfish purposes. But, I’ve been kicking around the idea of really diving deep into a topic of interest, so you mentioning the value of a 30 hour post was awesome validation and motivation to move toward more of that.

I’ve enjoyed your blog for a while, have been enjoying the podcast, and look forward to continuing to learn from you. Thanks for all you do!

Paula this article was amazingly helpful. I can see the benefits to shortening the topics and setting a more tunneled focus, but this is so much more inspirational, and it all leads to the main goal…. Financial Freedom!!!

I found this article pretty interesting. A lot of your posts seem focus on the “time vs money” trade-off of Real Estate Investing, but that piece of information seems to be missing here. I’m really wondering what the “time vs money” trade-off is with blogging. Aside from your consulting business (which arguably seems like it could / should be disconnected from this blog), it doesn’t seem like your blog has actually made much money in the last 5 years. Yet I’m sure its a HUGE time investment.

Do you plan on making enough money on the upcoming courses to actually make the last 5 years worth it? Are you planning on sharing similar “time vs money” metrics on developing the course?

Legacy
I emphasize “time vs. money” in real estate because, frankly, I’m in real estate for the money. Real estate is not the legacy that I’d like to leave behind; Afford Anything is.

In my life, real estate is a means to an end. The only reason I invest in real estate is to earn money, which provides a safety net that allows me to do other things that I enjoy. Those things include writing and traveling.

Writing was the gateway to blogging. And blogging became the gateway into podcasting, social media, interacting with readers both online and face-to-face. Basically, this is what I enjoy doing during my time. It’s also a more meaningful legacy.

Real estate is the “how.” Afford Anything (and my lifestyle) is the “why.”

(I don’t mean to disparage real estate as a legacy in other peoples’ lives. Leaving behind real estate assets for your children and grandchildren is a fantastic legacy. Real estate also allows you to impact the lives of your tenants in a positive way. So I mean no offense to people who view real estate as their legacy. It’s just not mine.)

Realized Income
I can see the issue both ways re: Does Catalyst income constitute blogging income? At a business level, Afford Anything has been the lead-generator for Catalyst. It’s the “business card,” so to speak.

Could I have skipped the blog, started Catalyst, and found clients in some other way? Sure. Of course. That would probably be much more efficient. But Afford Anything allows me to focus on this blog without needing to find business. No pitching, no cold calls, no networking events. I just grow the blog, and the consulting business comes to me.

But beyond that … let’s return to the SpaceX example from earlier in the post. SpaceX earns money by delivering things to space. They’re a space-delivery service. But that’s not their mission; that’s just how SpaceX pays the bills. Their mission — their purpose — is to reduce the cost of space travel for the entire aerospace industry, so that interplanetary travel can become economically feasible. So humans can move to Mars.

I don’t mean to compare myself to SpaceX, but that story resonated with me when I heard it. The way that Afford Anything earns money (at least right now) is different than the reason why it exists. We make money through blog and social media consulting, but we exist to teach people how to reach financial freedom.

(I would like to align the income with the purpose. That’s the reason I decided to create courses.)

Opportunity Cost
Finally, note that I’m leaving a lot of potential money on the table. At this level of readership, I could start promoting “10 Best Banks!” and make tens of thousands more. But that conflicts with why this blog exists.

So the equation becomes “time vs. money vs. mission.” And on this blog, the mission wins. 🙂

Best post ever! (farewell “mind the gap”, it was great while it lasted!)

I understand not everyone is willing to read it till the cake, like I don’t read some real estate posts, but for me it was almost life-changing! Now I know how hard and difficult it is to have a (great) blog; I now understand so many tactics and technics that were dancing around in front of my eyes but I just couldn’t really see them… like the all different forms and pop ups that keep showing up in all the (few-but-very-high-quality) blogs I follow asking me to subscribe for the mailing lists and I were always like – “duhh… I’m already subscribed, this is stupid!” – gosh, I’m stupid! That’s for my own good!

Anyway, learn so much in these +8000 word post that if you’ve asked for money on your cake photo I would probably send it to you!

The best thing I can tell you about how much I loved it is that I read about 60% last night, went to bed, and read the last part this morning (as soon as I were mentally ready); well, some may think that this isn’t so good – “if it was really really good you wouldn’t have stopped reading it till the very last word!” – well, the thing is, this post, for me, reached a whole new level on my quality standards: you have good posts that you start reading and then jump some paragraphs to speed it up but still getting its big idea; then you have great posts that you just can’t stop reading till the end; and then you have these mind-blowing-life-changing-eye-opening-knowledge-forging posts that you feel that are so right for you, so important to the path you want to follow, that you really want to absorb every single crumb of wisdom that someone throw into a blog post… for me, that was exactly what you’ve done, and I really wanted to be on my best shape to assimilate all of that, so I stopped when I felt overloaded and came back to it the next morning, refreshed and excited to proceed! It was the first time I felt like this for a blogpost! I can’t imagine a better way for you to celebrate Afford Anything’s anniversary!

Thank you so much for these 5 years, can’t wait for the next 50!

(sorry for the long comment, let’s just say it’s proportional to the post, as an homage!)

Yes, Paula…please write more of these articles! I’d love to read more about the business of blogging as well as real estate investing. I’ll admit I first got into blogging after reading how bloggers made money. Well I still haven’t figured it out but I’ve learned so much from fellow bloggers. One was to look into investing in real estate (thanks Paula and other bloggers!). So now I own a rental property out-of-state and own a blog…it’s a start. I’m always trying to learn more and thankful for all the amazing content.

hello! great article, and so much fun… lots of good insights. I am starting my own blog. I just wrote my first 4 articles which are being edited from a professional because English is not my first language so at least the style part and grammar will be saved. However I still don’t like what I wrote and as you mentioned I believe it requires more research and reediting over and over.. a bit frustrating but probably it’s just the start.. after a few articles ..it will probably get worse…LOL..
The thing is I realised, it is really scary to put my thoughts out there, even if it is not a personal article but even by talking about travel, it’s your thoughts that you are publishing, it’s a part of you and I feel like I am walking naked in central park… and the weirdest thing is I am more afraid of my ”acquaintances'” judgments then strangers’ … probably if i was happier with the value my posts are creating I wouldn’t be that scary… the thing is I have a full time job, still for another year because i need to save before jumping…and it is very difficult to squeeze in all the things i need to do and learn … photoshopping, photography, social media, writing (and researching) and then stay behind all the articles (like this one) and news… all this long comment to get to my question.. I don’t want to live on my blog, that is something i want to keep just to give out information about travelling and tips on where to go and what to see and i want it to be free. I don’t dislike my present job but i don’t like to be stuck in the office and have only 22 days per year for travelling, I want to be free to manage my own time and space. this is why the idea of free lancing. the idea is to manage social media and marketing for small boutique hotels or also working for other bloggers and manage their social media for example.. my question is what would you suggest me to do to acquire more skills that would make myself a great hire and how would I prove it without any previous experience to support my value. thank you so much for this and all the great articles!! keep the great work!

You are, by far, my favorite financial blog out there – precisely because of all of the things out outline in this post. Infrequent yet quality content. Use of negative space. No SEO-generic lists. Last but not least, you write with passion on a topic that could, in the wrong hands, become dry. You provide true VALUE to your readers!

People always tell me I should start a blog… maybe that day is coming sooner, thanks to you 🙂

I see that most of your readers have no interest in the financial markets, and that’s fine. Yours is a real estate investing blog, after all. But finding passive income opportunities seems to be a main focus of yours. If so, then a discussion of REIT ETFs would be relevant here. They are far more passive than owning individual properties, but I’ve never known how the annual returns might compare. I appreciate you sharing your last few months’ data with us because it allowed me to do the following analysis.

I arbitrarily chose Vanguard’s VNQ as my comparison REIT ETF, mainly because it has extremely low fees and passively invests in a benchmark real estate index rather than being actively managed. Since its inception in 2004, it has returned an average of 8.87% annually after all fees. According to your 12/6/2015 blog post, the current market value of all your porperties was $935,391 at that time. This amount would generate $6914 per month at 8.87%.

I see you have a mortgage payment of $3524 per month, so I will add that to your net monthly earnings to stay consistent with the scenario that all $935,391 is invested. (In other words, I am pretending that your properties are all paid off and you have no mortgage payment.) This means that your net cash flow would be $5733.42, $8419.61, and $7104.56 for the months of November, December, and January, respectively. The average for the 3 months is $7085.86, about $170 per month more than an equal investment in VNQ.

If you spent an hour or two per month managing your properties, then you earned $85-170 per hour for your time. This is a great “salary”! For those who want a more hands-on real estate investment, it should be well worth doing at those rates. But if you are interested in maximum passivity, a REIT is possibly the most passive real estate investment there is. There is no hunting around on Zillow for your next property, setting up arrangements with property managers, dealing with bad tenants, etc. Also, a strong argument can be made that REIT ETFs are financially safer than individual properties. Your money is spread over thousands of residential and commercial properties across a large geographic area rather than just a handful of residential units, plus the liquidity is much, much better than that for individual properties. It can be sold in seconds, whereas a residential property can take years to sell in certain situations.

I think this is one area of the financial markets that your readers should find interesting. It would be fun and instructive to see how the numbers develop as you post more months of data. I wouldn’t be surprised if your approach continues to earn a return over and above the REIT approach. However it develops, your readers would have valuable information to help them decide just how passive they want to be with their real estate investments.

Full disclosure: I don’t hold any REITs, REIT ETFs, or rental properties. I don’t work for Vanguard or any other company.

I’m sorry for jumping in, but this topic makes me some confusion… I’m not trying at all being offensive, but I don’t understand why most people consider REIT an Real Estate investment, at least at same level as buying/managing properties! That’s like me saying I’m a Mining Investor just because I own 100 stocks from RIO TINTO (which I don’t).

A REIT is “just” a mutual fund, which happens to be (mostly) directed to Real Estate management, but that’s it!

I understand it has some Tax advantages compared to other investments and concede high dividends ratios, but you do not control any part of the equation! You do not choose the properties, you do not manage them, you don’t “get your hands dirty” on the business, which is not a bad thing, don’t get me wrong, but I have some difficulties on understanding how this investments can be compared to really owning real estate properties and effectively control the business!

In my opinion, REIT is a financial investment that focus on Real Estate, so it should be considered as an alternative to other mutual funds, not to Real Estate investment!

Again, I’m not saying one is better than the other, I’m just arguing the idea that for those who want to get started in the Real Estate segment, a REIT is a good option… NO! a REIT is (or may be) a good option for those who want to get start investing (in general). So, what I mean by all this, is that I don’t consider your “request” for comparing investments/returns or “grade of passive income” logical, because they’re different kind of investments, not comparable by the same perspectives.

I must say I’m not (by far) a financial expert, and I would welcome any contradictory opinions on this topic, some may actually prove that I’m wrong!

There’s no need to apologize; you haven’t offended me at all. You make some good points – for those who are knowledgeable and skilled, there is probably significant value in choosing and managing your own properties. This is why I suspect that Paula’s approach will likely continue to earn a return over and above that of the average REIT. However, there is much more work involved. For those interested in passive investments, REITs might provide a great option.

I do disagree with one comment you made. You said, “REIT is a financial investment that focus on Real Estate, so it should be considered as an alternative to other mutual funds, not to Real Estate investment!” It would be a mistake to assume that all or even most mutual funds are comparable. There are funds representing many different economic sectors, geographic regions, etc. A REIT is indeed a real estate investment because it invests exclusively (or nearly so) in real estate. Many mutual funds attempt to represent the broader stock market, which is probably what most people think of when they hear the term “mutual fund”. Funds like this are not real-estate centric and shouldn’t be considered as an equivalent alternative to REITs.

As you said, one method of real estate investment is not better than the other; much of it is a matter of personal preference. I am mostly an equities investor, so my perspective is biased towards passivity. I see that it would take a lot of time and effort to develop the necessary expertise to adopt Paula’s approach. Additionally, I would have to put together a great team, as she frequently advises. After owning a business for many years, I would rather not have to manage a team again. If I were to invest in real estate, I would probably forego the possibility of higher returns in favor of passivity and safety. Buying a REIT ETF that mimics a benchmark real estate index would guarantee me a return equal to the average return for the real estate market represented by the index, and would spread the financial risk among thousands of properties of various kinds.

Well written and informative for several purposes. I read thru to the end because you always have something interesting (a joke or a smile) and ideas that can be evaluated and applied (or rejected) to something is a person’s life. I’m a volunteer editor/publisher of a newsletter about criminal justice and reforming a broken system. Your approach to blogging and retaining your readers confirms the approach I’m taking in this specialized newsletter plus some tips I may be able to work in. I also plan to forward your email to a longtime writer friend who has a political website. He should read thru your Blogging article for useful comparison as well as all the links you provide that may be beneficial to his activities. I also like your real estate posts.

I think this is a great post, but I’m also the person who kept reading the random trivia about Roth IRAs, so…

Although some bloggers (like those you mentioned) make a killing on affiliate/ad revenue, it’s becoming increasingly common to use your blog mainly as a marketing platform for a business that you believe in.

I don’t think anyone would accuse Penelope Trunk, Ramit Sethi, Derek Halpburn or (let’s be honest here) Tim Ferriss of running passive businesses, but their businesses are effective because they give a lot away for free. It might not be the road to Billions, but I would say multi-millions is likely achievable.

Wow what a great post. That’s a novel up there. As always some great info. I think new bloggers get too involved with everything other than content in the beginning. Focus on great content and let that drive your blogs future.

What I find most arresting about this post is not the amazing take-aways (though they are amazing). I want to tell you that this is probably one of the most high-quality blog posts I’ve ever read. I don’t say it lightly, and I know some will disagree (of course). What I mean is that I look for and admire it when people put together something amazing (which is usually pretty rare).

Whether it’s a dance performance, a wonderful dinner, a book, a musical recital, the ambience at a restaurant, a fantastic conference, or whatever. The fact is, when I come across something stellar, I stand back and say, “That’s how it should be done.” Thank you for producing something truly high quality that I can appreciate on both a practical level as well as an aesthetic level!

Hi Paula! Haven’t had a chance to really dig into this article the way I want to yet, but just had to tell you I’ve listened to all your podcasts and have been really enjoying them. Love the positive energy I get from you and J Money and look forward to them!

Paula, What do I do now that I’ve started a blog and after reading this I realize I’ve been doing it all wrong?! Sometimes I wish I could start over now that I know everything I’ve learned along the way…

Just keep iterating! Keep changing. I did EVERYTHING wrong when I started. (Remember how I mentioned that my first blog posts were an affront to the English language and an insult to human dignity?) I had no idea about any of this. I learned by reading other people’s blog posts. 🙂

This. Article. Is. EPIC. You had more game-changing takeaways here than I could count (I liked the one about simple sentences the best, I need to work on that). Thanks for putting this together – I learned a lot!

I love reading your stuff. I can only imagine how fun you are in person. Your thought process written out is very much like mine.

Also, this post is insanely helpful and a fantastic point of reference. Thanks for your hard work and care for your readers. It’s great to see how to get to a successful place but realize it will likely start ugly (I’m there.)

Incredibly impressed with the blog. Currently a college student and I’ve started several side hustles that are funding my tuition, and am now beginning to develop my blog as another source of income. It’s incredibly difficult starting out, but thank you for all the value that you provide, especially with this article. If only there was a low stakes way to become an investor in physical real estate 😉

Wow! This is one comprehensive post! 30+ hours for one post is very impressive. I think I’ve done a couple 10 hour long posts before, but on average I’m closer to 2-3 hours per post when it’s all said and done, 3X a week.

As a shareholder of Personal Capital, I need you and everyone else on the blogosphere to promote their free tools! 🙂 It was fun working in their office as a consultant for 1.5 years and seeing lots of focus pick up the product. It’s actually kind of crazy how many fintech products have come out of the SF Bay Area. If any PF bloggers wants to do some freelance work/consulting, there are a lot of opportunities right now.

Do you have one or two tips for Financial Samurai I can work on? I like that SumoMe tool about how much people read through the article. I’ve got a simple new layout design that adds a column I’m thinking of introducing, but I’m not sure what else to do.

When you write something you want to write and your readers want to read – it’s a win win! I had a blog a few years ago and got to the point where I was writing for the audience and not for myself (it was a college lifestyle blog and I soon outgrew some of the humor/ran out of stories to share when I graduated college). I wish I kept at it though because now some other company has bought the domain name and I have no idea how to get it back!

That is one epic post! I’m new at this whole blogging thing and I got a lot of tips out of your post. Not sure if I’m ever going to start really trying to make money off it, as it’s more of a hobby right now than anything else. Blogging is something I’ve wanted to do now for years and even though I hadn’t researched how to do it “properly”, I just decided to jump right in and get started. I’m having a blast!

I read your entire post, Paula, and like a good book, couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed it. Learned from it. Thought about it. Thanks for helping me make the decision to start my own blog! Thanks, too, for the cake.

This is an absolutely epic post. Seriously. I read all 8000+ words (your creepy analytic software can confirm, haha)

I’m probably not your typical reader in that I have no interest in real estate, air BnB, etc., but posts like this and the one you did on gratitude are fantastic (I did read the rent v. own as well). Keep doing stuff like this because, well, just because you can. It’s awesome.

I’ve been blogging for a few months and as with you, have found it to be a very rewarding experience. It expands the mind to other possibilities. It gives you a platform to bounce ideas off the world and ultimately learn. It forces better writing and to really examine our ideas in a different way.

After reading this post it is obvious and humbling to me that I need to do much work. I’m inspired to improve my writing and stop doing SEO optimization…oh wait, I never did that anyways…too lazy 😉

I find your writing style to be very inviting. It’s interesting and almost makes me feel like I’m talking to someone, rather than just reading a wall of text.

This was just the inspiration I needed! I’ve been contemplating starting up a blog for awhile now – I’ve even written up some drafts for posts – but just never brought myself to actually commit. The is now!

I sense that your tips will really help me find my way on this crazy thing we call the internet.

Really great tips and well structured. While I’ve been blogging for 9 years and also have done a lot of work for my clients in this area, you have showed so much valuable information that it helps me better my performance. I can only assume the amazing impact this article will have on someone who’s just starting out blogging and has no clue to what makes it successful.

Hi Nancy,
I use a website called Copyscape to look for plagiarized content. They have a great guide that helps bloggers respond to plagiarism.

I never run out of topic ideas. I’m thinking of ideas constantly — while talking to friends, while reading, in the shower, at the gym. I’m ALWAYS thinking of new ideas, and jotting these down. My problem isn’t a lack of ideas, it’s too many. I only have the time to write about a small proportion of the ideas that I generate.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I am a real newb at all of this… I’m soaking up info like a dry sponge takes in water, and about to launch my world-changing (ok, let’s be honest, hopefully life-changing — as in changing MY life) blog and course(s).
Your real-world, tried and tested strategies are so important to me right now.
Thank you again for sharing.
I wish you all the success you can handle.

Paula, I like your style. I learned about Afford Anything through your podcast (recommended by a friend). Once I heard you talk about spending hours on your blog posts, I knew you were my entrepreneurial spirit animal. It’s was refreshing to hear that you don’t have to publish daily or even weekly content to be successful. Now I’m inspired to narrow down my long list of interests and find my place in the blogging sphere. Thanks!

Wow, what a post! I like the breakdown into the 3 Ms. I would say personally marketing is my weakest link at this moment, but I also struggle with producing enough new content every month. Could I ask how you are producing the real estate investment course? I have an idea for a course for my readers but haven’t found the right software or website to produce the course yet. Thanks!

Hi Paula!
I quit my job to start a dream I had long time ago… edit a magazine. To make a long story short I’ll be in charge of a magazine who’s audience is a coworking franchise community. Definitely, the content has to be as you described, since it will be our trade mark to be different and original!
I’m considering to be written with the freshness of internet texts and not as a traditional magazine… I have a feeling this would work!!!
Thank you for all the info you put together and share!!

Wow. I feel a bit overwhelmed, but kind of in a good way. So much good info! I keep telling myself, “Just start, just start, just start. You can get better, but you have to start!” Oh, and I totally emailed the link to your rent vs buy article to a friend this weekend! It was my go-to choice because it was so comprehensive and well researched.

Yes, I agree: “Start” is better than “perfect.” (Another way to say it: “Done” is better than “perfect.”) You can always tweak later.

When I started this blog, I had a terrible website design; I wrote short skimming-the-surface articles; I didn’t showcase my personality in my writing; I subscribed to the notion that blog post quantity was more important than quality (and these days, my belief is the opposite: quality trumps quantity). I gathered no user data; I didn’t have a proper email list; I didn’t have a photo of myself on the About Page. In short, I did everything wrong.

But I started, and that’s what mattered most. I made many many 1% marginal gains over the span of the last 5 years, which got me to where I am today.

I’m sure that 5 years from now, I’ll look back on how I managed this blog “back in 2016” and I’ll think — in hindsight — that I did everything wrong. That’s the hallmark of a person who’s always improving.

Thanks so much for this! I did read it all the way to the end 🙂
Lots of useful info here for me and my husband. We just started our blog a couple of weeks ago. He’s the major writer and loving it. I’m too focused on writing a perfect post, and put myself off from even starting to write! It’s good to hear that even the best writers go back at old posts and edit. I need to ‘just start’ even more!

SUPER helpful post that I could not have come across at a better time. I only just recently began my own blogging journey, and much of what you’ve addressed here are things I’m right in the middle of figuring out through trial and (plenty of) error 😉

What really resonated with me was how you said you are a “believer that blog writing should be inspired. Thoughtful. Full of insight and ideas you can’t find anywhere else on the Internet.” I am finding that my best work and often the work that others enjoy the most and are willing to read are those topics that are written from an emotional standpoint, say after I read something that really clicks with me and that I want to elaborate on further. Lately, it’s been a battle deciding between writing about what I think the audience wants to read about versus what I actually want to write about. I’m find the latter usually ends up the most enjoyable experience for me as well as for my readers.

Awesome stuff Paula! I’ve been reading your blog for a while and had to return to this page to get my own blog started so I guess I have you to thank for some inspiration. I’m just getting started but hopefully I’ll be able to address the massive amount of info you’ve given us at some point.

I realize this is a few months old, but I wanted to say thanks for giving me a kick in the pants about starting my own blog! Still need to figure out a catchy title, but I’d be happy to send you a link to it once it goes live (sometime before the next Ice Age… I’ve got 2 kids under 3 at home!). Keep up the great work, and if you ever need to know something about starting out a woodworking business on the side check out the aforementioned future blog! 😛

I clicked upon this article while searching for…well, I’m not entirely sure what I was looking for at this point…and I feel like I just won a lottery of sorts.

Many thanks for:
-Clear, concise and actionable writing that was a pleasure to read
-Sharing the 3M framework as an organizing principle and showing how you apply it
-Providing “real” information on your highs and your learning points
-Actual screen grabs to show how you use various tools and data to continue to make your site more valuable to your readers

In summary, YOU ROCK! I’m grateful for what you do and your graciousness in sharing!

Warmly,
Lisa

PS
I’m on a mission to help more people give great gifts to their loved ones and have fun doing so. If you are ever in need of a gift for someone and need a bit of inspiration, please check out http://www.wrapwithlove.com.

This is one of the nicest, most concise (even though it is one of your longest posts!), and actionable posts that I have read on blogging. As a business owner (I’m a financial advisor with an addiction to personal finance blogs), I like the fact that your focus is on generating useful content and a positive user experience. This can be applied to any business not just blogging. I also like your stance on limited advertising and affiliate marketing. It is refreshing to see a blog not littered with advertising and affiliate links. It is unfortunate that many well written blogs don’t follow your path. You can almost see it in their blog posting history, over time, when they decide to “monetize” their blog, their ads and affiliate links explode. This is a real turnoff.

I’m on your online business mailing list, and few months ago I answered one of your email by “How do you know it will be worth it to write consistently?”
I’m about to click on WordPress to create my blog in the next 5 minutes, but I don’t want a site full of advertising, and I don’t want affiliates I don’t believe in. So yes… food or thoughts in these 6000 words…